Our work for heirs

If you have received mail from us, this usually means that we have identified you as a person entitled to inherit and that a relative of yours, usually a distant relative, has died. However, you are probably not the only heir in this estate, but there are other persons entitled to inherit.

In Austria, probate is handled by notaries. In many cases, however, they have neither the time nor the technical resources to deal with the search for heirs themselves. The search for persons entitled to inherit requires extensive genealogical knowledge and in some cases takes years. If notaries are unable to find heirs themselves, they have the option to ask a probate research company for help.

We would also like to point out that not all of the cases we handle are pending in Austria. We also specialize in international searches and handle many cases from the USA and Germany in particular.

Professional heir tracing agencies are not initially paid for the search - neither by the estate nor by the court. We therefore conclude an agreement with the heirs themselves regarding our fee. This fee, which is calculated as a percentage of the share of the inheritance actually paid out, only has to be paid when your share of the inheritance is paid out to you.

No, if you sign an agreement with us, we will cover all costs for you. This includes the costs of obtaining all documents, any translations and the costs of legal representation in the probate proceedings. Our fee will only be deducted when your inheritance is paid out to you. You therefore never have to make any active payments to us.

Internationally, heir tracing fees of up to 33% are common. In most cases, the heirs would never have known about their inheritance claim and would have difficulty proving it with deeds and other documents. The cost risk lies exclusively with the heir tracing agency. If you do not receive an inheritance, we will not receive any remuneration for our work.

When you receive mail from us, we have already completed the most important part of our work: we have identified you as an heir. However, our work also includes other points:  

1. It is necessary to determine all persons entitled to inherit in order to be able to calculate the respective inheritance quote.

2. We order all documents (birth, marriage and death certificates, old inheritance decrees, guardianship files, etc.) that prove your inheritance rights. If necessary, we also take care of translations of documents into German or transcriptions of documents in old German handwriting.

3. As soon as we have all the necessary documents, we send them to the relevant notary's office together with a family tree. The notaries check the documents submitted by us very carefully. We will endeavor to keep you informed of the current processing status.

We are aware that contacting us in connection with an inheritance may cause skepticism. It is therefore important to us to communicate our work as transparently as possible. You are welcome to get to know us better by clicking on "Team". You also have the opportunity to visit us in person at our offices in Innsbruck, Berlin or Cologne. You are also welcome to seek legal advice. We are at your disposal for discussions.

We also refer to our partner company ADD Associés, one of the world's best-known and most renowned probate research companies.

It could be that heirs who are already known require assistance in researching other persons entitled to inherit or in obtaining documents.

It is necessary that all heirs are known so that the respective inheritance quotes can be calculated correctly. If the deceased person is a cousin, you as the person entitled to inherit are not related to all the other persons entitled to inherit and may not know them.

In the case of land register corrections, it might be that the owner is already deceased and the beneficiaries must be found.

We are also happy to help in such cases. Please contact us personally to discuss the details.